


A Taste of Home

by KukuiOlelo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Cooking, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hawaiian Hunk (Voltron), M/M, Texan Keith (Voltron), and culinarily interesting use of pigeons, did i say fluff i meant, excessive use of pidgin, note that i am not from texas, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 04:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10070864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KukuiOlelo/pseuds/KukuiOlelo
Summary: Datenights with Keith's boyfriend usually involve cooking. If it's edible, they can eat a nice meal together. If it's not, they get to throw it out the airlock with far too much zeal. Today, Hunk's making something from his home back in Hawai'i, and it might bring back a few bittersweet memories.in which there is cooking, crying, and little red hearts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> blame autisticgaara

When Keith was a kid, his favorite food was cornbread and chili.  His dad made it on cooler nights, some spice in the cornbread and a lot of spice in the chili, and he always made enough to feed an army. It reminded Keith of home and calmer times, remembering back to cool nights in the shack and a full stomach and dad humming old country songs as the wind whistled outside. 

Then the Garrison, and then the desert, then Voltron, and now, well, this. Keith toweled off his hair as he stepped out of the locker rooms. Lance and Pidge grunted as they struggled on the training mat, and he could hear the clank of Alluras staff against the training dummy. Keith checked behind him before rounding the next corner, and set a course to the kitchens. 

Keith opened the door carefully and stepped inside. The room was filled with the smell of something spicy and sweet, and Hunk stood by an open oven, his hair tied back in a bun. He smiled as Keith walked in and pulled a foil wrapped pan out of the oven. Keith leaned back against the countertop. “Smells good in here.”

Hunk set the pan on a potholder and pulled off his oven mitts. “Thanks!” he said, “Char siu, it’s a classic.” He leaned over and pecked Keith on the cheek.  “How was training?”

Keith smiled. “Good, Lance is getting better at his hand to hand.”

“Good to hear! Hey, can you pass me those tongs?”

Keith scanned the counter for the cobbled together contraption Hunk made for tongs. He passed the tongs to Hunk. “What’re we making?” They’d fallen into this habit somehow. On date nights, Keith would sneak out of training a bit early and Hunk would try to cook something out of assorted foods and food like substances from planets they visited. It was usually edible, and if it wasn’t they could laugh over it and then shove it out an airlock with pomp and circumstance that always dissolved into giggling. 

Hunk peeled the foil off of the pan. “Manapua,” he said. Keith tilted his head to the side from the counter. Hunk continued, “It’s from back home, meat inside a bun. Perfect food, if you ask me.” Keith pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning his head on his hand. Hunk continued to talk as he busied himself around the kitchen. “Half the trouble is just getting the fillings right. It’s char siu, you know, so many seasonings to find.” Hunk measured a few ingredients out in a bowl. “But get this, I found this thing on that last planet, the one with that weird giant pigeon plague-” Keith did in fact remember this. The pigeons were purple, it was probably another Galra abomination gotten loose, but their origin wasn’t as much of a problem as the fact that they were eating the natives crops. “-and they had something just like five spice powder. And I mean there were those giant pigeons, so char siu.” 

Keith paused with a piece of char siu halfway to his mouth and raised his eyebrows. “This is pigeon,” he said incredulously.

Hunk blinked, then held his hands up with a chuckle. “Don’t worry,” He said, “I checked with the locals, it tastes just like chicken.” 

Keith decides that he’s eaten weirder meats, mentally crosses his fingers, and takes the plunge. “Wow,” he said, mouth half full, “It does, this is good.” Keith reached over to the pan to try grab another piece, but Hunk casually pulled it out of his reach. Keith pouted, to no avail.

“Ah, ah, ah, no snitching.” Hunk waggled his spoon in Keith's direction. “We need those for the filling. You wan’ help? I could show you.”

“Sure.” Keith stood, moving his way over to Hunk. He leaned up to look in the bowl Hunk was holding. “Is it supposed to be that yellow?” The stretchy looking substance inside was roughly the color of fresh turmeric, if not a few shades brighter. 

Hunk shrugged and turned the contents of the bowl onto the counter, where it clung together in a ball. “It’s the closest I could find to flour. Remember that planet with the blob monster?” Keith remembers, half the food was an alarming gold color, and many of the locals seemed infatuated with Hunk, especially after he spent an hour in the kitchen complex discussing culinary techniques. “Well, it turns out they actually had really similar agriculture to Earth, staple wise. They got this plant, just like wheat, really similar gluten structures, except well,” He gestured down at the yellow dough. “So they gave me a ton of flour before we left.” Hunk started fishing around in the cupboards before pulling out a bowl. “Really, a lot. It's going to last us half a lifetime, I swear. Come help me with the char siu will you?” 

Hunk demonstrated to Keith how to shred the pigeon meat with a couple of forks, and Keith set to work. Hunk started mixing the measured ingredients in a pot, muttering to himself. “I can’t believe you’re feeding me pigeon,” Keith said.

“Hey.” Hunk was only half focusing on the conversation, stirring carefully while adding a pinch of this and that. After a few minutes, he took one final taste of the pasty concoction and beamed before setting the pot aside. Keith made room for Hunk at the table, and Hunk started to help shredding the meat. With his paste thing out of the way, Hunk spoke. “Hey, remember that earth store at the space mall?” Keith nodded, smiling slightly. “Well Pidge found a bootleg copy of Avatar, right, and I hooked it up to the entertainment thing.”

Keith put a handful of meat in the bowl. “Really? Last Airbender, Korra, or the blue things?”

“Airbender, duh,” Hunk said, “You watched that show?”

Keith grinned. “You kidding, I loved it as a kid.”

“Yes! Want watch with me after these are pau?”

“Sure, I’d love to.” The others would be elsewhere, Shiro would be training with Allura, Lance and Pidge would still be trying to get past that one level on the game. They’d be undisturbed, for once. 

Hunk smiled and bumped his shoulder against Keiths. “Awesome. Hey, pass me the bowl.” Keith held out the bowl for Hunk and tried his best to look pitiful. Hunk sighed. “Fine babe, yes you can eat the char siu.” Keith smiled and grabbed a piece from the still half full pan. Hunk mixed about half of the char siu into the pan before adding the rest. Keith leaned forward on the table as he watched Hunk work with the dough, separating it out into chunks. “You wan’ help with this?” 

Keith stood, moving to hover near Hunk's shoulder. “Sure.”

“Come here, it’s easy, look.” Hunk flattened one of the balls of dough with his hand. He cupped it in one hand, adding a spoonful of red filling to the center. “Then you pinch up the edges like this.” Hunk demonstrated, folding and pinching the edges of the dough until it formed a neat little pinwheel in the center. Keith tried to copy Hunk's actions with clumsy fingers and only manages to somehow spill filling on his hands. “Aue, you’re a mess.” Hunk picked up another lump of dough. “Here, do it more like this.” He demonstrated again while Keith wiped off his hand, slowing his motions as he pinched the edges. “Cup your hand like this, like you’re holding one basketball.” 

“You make this look so easy, don’t you.” Keith tried again, this time succeeding, and held a whole, if not a bit lumpy, manapua. 

Hunk beamed. “Maika’i! You’ll be better than me at this rate.” Hunk's voice trailed off, his smile fading. His eyes drifted down towards his hands, expression a bit wistful. Keith fell quiet as well and leaned a bit closer to Hunk's side. Hunk spoke, voice quiet and choked. “I sound just like my mom.”

Keith reached up to rest a hand on Hunk’s shoulder and felt the muscles relax. He stroked his thumb against Hunk’s shirt and waited. Keith could feel Hunk's shaking breaths through the hand on his shoulder, and his hands seemed to quiver against the counter. Keith had missed his father so much at first, the pain was as sharp as anything, but it faded with time. Hunk though…

Hunk looked up, eyes watery. Keith squeezed the hand on his shoulder and waited. Hunk wrapped an arm around Keith’s waist and clutched him close. Keith leaned into him, his head resting on Hunk's arm. He rubbed at Hunk’s back as he sniffled against Keith’s shoulder, occasionally reaching up to stroke his hair. “I miss Earth.” Hunk's voice cracked into his shoulder. 

Keith stroked a hand against Hunk's back. “I know buddy, me too.” Keith pet at Hunk's hair and leaned closer, resting his head against Hunk. Hunk squeezed tighter, but his sniffling began to quiet, his breath evening out. 

Hunk's voice cracked when he spoke again. “Remember back at the Garrison when it rained?”

Keith rubbed his back. “Yeah,” he said, “We’d all run out into the field, it was so hot.”

“Then it’d get all humid,” Hunk said, “and everyone’s stuck in their wet clothes.”

Keith smiled at the memory. “Worth it.” 

Hunk chuckled. “Yeah, it was buddy.” Hunk pulled back, his head still hanging down. Keith slid his hand down Hunk's arm to his wrist and stroked at his pulse point with his thumb. Hunk sniffed and took a deep breath. With his free hand, he reached up to wipe his eyes and smiled. “Well, these won’t make themselves.” He turned back to the counter and Keith released his wrist. “Come on, you’re getting the hang of it.” Keith moved back to his space by Hunk. He looked up at him and smiled. Keith bumped his shoulder against Hunk's and picked up another ball of dough.

* * *

 

Keith liked manapua, he decided. They were warm and salty, and anything Hunk made was good, just by default. They we’re half way through the first season, Keith leaning back against Hunks side as they both ate far more manapua than necessary. An episode flickered to an end but for some reason neither of them could quite find the motive to get up and start the new one. Keith took another bite of his manapua and frowned. “Why are they red?” He looked up at Hunk.

Hunk shrugged and squeezed an arm around Keith’s shoulder. “Maybe I did it for you.”

“Really?”

“Nah,” Hunk smiled, “They’re always red.”

“Why?”

“Bro, not even I know.” Keith chuckled. The screen faded to black and they sat for a minute in the silence. Keith closed his eyes, leaning back against Hunk’s arm. He heard Hunk take a breath. “Me and my mom used to have these a lot.” Keith looked up. Hunk was looking down at the manapua with a strange, half smile. Keith cuddled a bit closer and and pulled Hunk’s arm closer to his chest. “Church on Sundays, you know. After we’d go down Kalihi to Chun Wah Kams, get one manapua and dim sum.” Hunk smiled again, fully this time. “Mom knew the lady at the counter, old auntie with a Chinese accent. They’d talk story when it wasn’t busy, she’d leave a big tip. Always had me say ‘thanks auntie’ before we left.” Hunk squeezed Keith a little tighter to his side. “She always told me ‘baby, you be kind. You never know what kine stuff people going through, so you spread aloha.’” Hunk trailed off, staring at the dark screen with a strange nostalgia in his features. 

Keith looked down at his manapua. Hunk had drawn a little red heart on it in food coloring, he said it was like his stamp. Hunk’s so kind. He’s so kind and he’s got such a big heart, and even when he’s hurting, he always puts others first. It never mattered who it was, teammate, friend, or a complete stranger, he was always so kind. “She’d be proud of you.” Keith looked up at Hunk. “Really, you’ve been so brave.” Hunk smiled weakly, his eyes bright. Keith turned around to face Hunk. Hunk chuffed, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and leaned into Keith. Keith held him, playing with his hair, rubbing his shoulders and back, until Hunk’s sniffling trailed off and he relaxed against Keith. “Hunk?” Keith said.

Hunk’s voice cracked. “Yeah?”

“I aloha you.”

Hunk began to laugh wetly on Keith’s shoulder. He pulled back, giggling in earnest and looking at Keith with an amused, pained expression. “Babe no-” He snorted and clapped a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Oh my god, you mainlander, that’s not-” The remainder of the sentence was lost in another bout of giggles, and Hunk seemed to give up. He rested his head on Keith’s shoulder with a resigned sigh. “Love you too, Keith.” Keith smiled to himself and leaned back. Hunk smiled in the soft light, and Keith stroked a strand of hair away from his face. He leaned in and they kissed, slow and sweet, Hunk’s hand cupping the back of Keith’s neck and Keith’s fingers tracing lazy designs on Hunk’s jaw. He pulled back, foreheads just brushing, and breathed. 

Hunk squeezed the back of Keith's neck, smiling, before he stood and walked over to the entertainment thing. He queued up the next episode with a lot of muttering before flopping back onto the couch. Keith snuggled against Hunk’s side and smiled when Hunk threw an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. Keith leaned his head against Hunk’s chest as the opening scene began, his fingers lazily tracing little hearts against Hunk’s leg, and maybe, just maybe, they missed home a little less. 

**Author's Note:**

> manapua are the food of the gods and chun wah kams does it better than libbys yall can fight me
> 
> In any case this was supposed to be fluff, then a friend goaded me on then angst happened. You have a spaceship guys let them go back home for like five minutes.
> 
> also fun fact the word manapua comes from the hawaiian phase mea 'ono pua'a which litterally means yummy pig thing. hawaiian.


End file.
